Unique Posing for Weddings

Lesson 17 of 28

Bride, Baby, Groom in Wheelchair

Unique Posing for Weddings

Lesson 17 of 28

Bride, Baby, Groom in Wheelchair

Lesson Info

Bride, Baby, Groom in Wheelchair

I want to talk a little bit about how to photograph people who may have disabilities just like anybody else we don't want to change what we're doing for them we want a work around whatever that disability maybe to make them feel comfortable I don't want to change my setup so I don't want to change anything but what I want to do again let's make them feel comfortable so what we're going to do here is try and put them together and the fish away we're going to do a family of three dad is in a wheelchair we don't want to bother dad we don't want to ask him dad get up if dad's coming in in a wheelchair we have to assume that he's going to stay in that wheelchair and that's okay but I need to do what I normally d'oh now the tricky part here is not dad in a wheelchair the tricky part is the very very young baby okay so this is one of the things that you need to work with is learning how to get the attention it's basically locking in and creating a great family group with a little bit more of ...

a flat light in this case scenario I'm goingto light flatter than I have all day the reason why is I can control mom and dad but I can't control the baby can I so now here's the thing when doing a family portrait with a baby in the beginning I want to snap right away I want to make things shoot as fast as I possibly can and no reason why is I want to make sure that I get a least one image now you always going to be able to get a younger infant being able to smile and be happy no but you don't want to go there and waste an hour and not get anything you have to create a sellable entity okay so we're gonna ask mom dad and our beautiful baby and and if I could actually it can I have one of the chairs from mom please you could've left it there I'm sorry I made you so we're gonna work from here and we're gonna bring daddy right over here okay so again the key here is to make sure that we're able to function in the best way possible so what I'm going to dio is I know that this is going to be more of a close up so what we're gonna do is we're actually going to go in front of the red here okay the reason I'm going in wet in front of the red is based on lighting how you guys you dress up very very nice hello mama you look so pretty beautiful aren't you gorgeous you looking me you scared of me pretty good girl don't worry I just got big head you're going to come right over here dad you guys are doing great so now the reason for the chair here is I don't mom is wearing a beautiful gown I obviously don't want to kneel her dad can you turn sideways here for me sir excellent and you're gonna turn your body towards me a little bit this way wonderful turn just this way turn your body a little bit more towards me good all right there on it's going to help you move over a little bit okay excellent good mom can you come right over here beautiful actually may have would've been often like I'm gonna pull you back just a tad wonderful mom you're going to sit here on the edge of your chair and you're gonna lean into dad dad is it okay if your beautiful daughter sits right on you after excellent beautiful and mom we're going to bring you behind out just a little bits we're going to slide you back all right I'll be here hello princess he looks so tired already huh you're yawning now the idea with this is we want to bring the family together now by bringing the family together by leaning mama we gonna help her out of course we are but we want a crop in tight enough so that we don't notice the chair but also bring for come we sit her right up on here dad a little bit mom you're gonna lena nice and close excellent now the trick is to keep mom and dad looking at may while I try to deal with princess okay so you're going to get a crisper charmer and dad in the back I'm gonna bring your hand here dad just like that look at may and you guys are just going to kind of look forward and I'm going to make a whole bunch of ridiculous noises to try and get her attention leaning close here excellent turn your head a little bit handsome and now you guys going forward you are just you're focused on that bead work I see you mama I see this is what they do in those department stores I feel good you stop playing with the boba you look right here we go mama leaning close turn your head to your right mom lied for them right to you you pick abu here we go now depending on the child's age I may get mohr involved and start to a different toys but at this point I have seconds to make this happen so looking at me mom you guys are just going to keep looking for dad turn your head to your right a little bit and looking to me here now we don't want to focus on what on her playing with mom's baba smiled at don't look pissed off happy excellent stay right back to you I got to at least I'm keeping mom and dad and detained good just like that hold onto it and take a look do we have a nice human should have family you gotta put that hand down we don't need to show mommy bubble look the o the big couple do you like big apple heads together now I already have something there but I want to try to get this to be a sellable and e but I go beaded it big silly I c I got b o speak up it's you now sometimes in my studio when doing this I'll have a photographer on the camera and I'll be over here to get what now obviously the camera can't see from there big backside here but that's okay I want to get one more I want to try to get her to smile my preference would be to work closer dad bring your hand down a little bit lower mom lean and close just like that looking at me here dad turn her to your right your eyes are up here but big voice come on smile I'm gonna make a lot of money on this if you smile here we go t k now from here I could start to play with different things so let's take a look mom you're going to slide out for a second dad are you able to hold your daughter up like this excellent so this is a big time money maker okay so what we're going to use is look at that we don't need to see that all that much sorry you just don't got it going on we're going to turn her towards him because the idea here is I want to see her looking at dad and I want to try to see him getting her attention so where should I shoot the back of dad's head it's his best part you look pretty good but you know what I mean right good how old is she anyway seven months aren't you precious girl I loved your headband you're being such a good girl such a good girl so now I obviously have to go handheld here now this is one time where I'll probably up my eyes oh just a little bit thank you just good sewing up my our yourself for the mere reason that I can't risk har why I don't want to worry about not getting the proper light so let me see what happens when you lift her up that and you're gonna try to get her attention so I'm gonna go upto so two thousand here are twenty five hundred now here's what I'm recognizing dad can you hold her up a little bit higher I'm not getting the light I want so what I'm gonna do is adjusted that I'm gonna turn you a little bit okay oh so pretty oh so pretty mama there we go just like that I talked to a daddy get her attention well that worked well dad way to interact good I'm tilting towards her I'm talking very little here because I want her to connect with dad okay how long do I wait on this you don't wait too no no I'm just talking in teaching I don't want to take too long his dad's gonna get tired and she's gonna get tied to second breaks into tears I lose her so there we go way wei stop making that noise guy you're annoying may it's a matter of connecting with her and look it's not the dream shot but does it work so can I ask for the creative life team to kill the studio lights for me please we're gonna try something right here going to turn here I want to kill the studio lights and I'm going to try to make something that's a little bit more dramatic okay so I'm sorry about the doc good hopes that's okay don't worry about the let's see doubt if you could get her actually just look at your daughter dad bring her in a little bit closer now man I'm looking for the highlight to get a nice profile image ok so dad bring your lips tohave forehead stretcher now no keeper lower than you sir good you're doing so good princess you do it's good but look at daddy look at daddy mama look a daddy princess don't make that noise she likes that got it now if I'm right I'm in a beautiful profile lighting take a look oh god hold on could someone get a video on me really quick I just feel like that's what I'm talking about you like that right girl you got that like it like it that's what I'm talking about we now do I need to do anything else at this point she spectacular does she sit up on her own yet excellent I'm gonna do one with mom you had the winds all good I excited you with my dear thirteen right come right over here mama whoa make the magic happen mom can you get your beautiful daughter for a second and what I want you to dio again we're gonna try to keep it simple with one light with just mom so dad you can come right over here for a second sir thank you whips you can throw her headband now I'm going to try to go back high key here this is a little bit more difficult mom you're going to come right over here beautiful okay it needs to be quick it needs to be simple it needs to be easy so we're working around everything that we have so luckily this area has different different segments that we could use some right over here beautiful I want you to bring her up to you and you almost cuddling her maternal body yet right in the turner and lena back into your arm here excellent good you're doing so good I want you to lean in close storm you're doing so good I know my face is scary up coast here we go come in front of the window right there stop now looking down at her hold on now again what I'm trying to do to create a little bit more dramatic letting mom tilt your head to your left and you're just goingto groups can you bring her legs down so it doesn't look bring your hands underneath her backside excellent bring your hands right underneath there nobody want teo wait go just like that you're right there people at home like oh my god he's annoying turn off the sound good looking down good at heart mom talked to her a little bit e I talked to her a little bit make that sound good I don't know if I like it again it's a little bit more tricky nope doesn't work okay move over a little bit month good now layer back and move over to your right I'm sorry leaning head back looking down stay right there okay she probably had gas but wade got a smile out of it again not what I'm looking for but there's a little bit of a cute expression now remember I could crop in and cut out what I want to do there I'm not getting what I want so I'm going to move on to the next segment sometimes you have to recognize not working not working amanda can I have that rug back please and we could light up the studio again okay so let's take a look at what we're going to do here we're going to light up we're gonna bring the lights on and I'm gonna take that rug back I'm sorry and go right in here it's much better to work with a tripod in these situations can come weeping the rug right over the frontier I'm going to try and set little princess down by herself now the rug is going to make a world of difference because it's going to soften everything up for us now is the background ideal but who cares not about that at this point but here's the great thing by sitting her down by herself what's going to happen I'm ableto really control things at this point because mom and dad can help to get her attention dad can I ask you to just slide over this way because I'm going to need this area mom can we sit her right in the middle and you're gonna help me mom you're going to get her attention can we add that studio light right up good and you're going to sit right there what she's going to sit right there beautiful excellent she's doing so good another reason constant lights are good in the situation why because I don't have to worry about recycle time you notice you know what I noticed people do with children's portrait what do they do they become machine gun fire I got to know what's going on it's got hello mom you're gonna come over by may good attention mommy you can help with the you like that's when you miss it got it now looking how we off sent in her head because I'm looking to make a panel print but that's what you call jacking up in image because you screwed up the exposure idiot good stay right there good just like that good now again I'm looking for a couple expressions that's the danger of the black background that's a nice image over there isn't it now mom can you do me a favor we're going to turn her I'm actually going to turn her a little bit you're going to turn your body this way with the little the little feet little little feet and mom you're going to try and get her attention by turning her head over her back I want to get basic basic poses here att this point mom get her to talk to her and see if you could get her to the kitchen see you mom can you come on my left good got it now from here I start to change it much as I would shoot down on a bride I'm gonna shoot down a baby how's that image of her perfect just so you know we had to pay this baby top dollar to perform like this good mom you come right over here and you're going to come right over my left shoulder right here shooting down making a quick and easy mom you talked to your beautiful little girl e got it okay now I'm getting to a point where we're almost done now this is what I call a very basic excitement how many shots that I need to take here I still shot one minute ladies you're impressed aren't you I know I've done this it's so hard it's so hard to get a baby no well this just happens to be a spectacular spectacular baby it doesn't always work like that but I'm letting mom and dad do the work now the truth is it's seven months I'd probably start to do more intimate shots of the baby's feet and little details but again because I don't know what it's I wouldn't want my baby naked on tv so we're not going to do that but you understand they're all on my web site you could see different photos like that with dramatic lighting on black with dad and the baby with the on with the tattoos all that sort of stuff but you look we did a great job didn't way we can like different things in now what we could do if dad wasn't in a wheelchair we would lay mom and dad both down next time so let's do one shot of mom with her mom can you lay on your belly next to your daughter here good and you're gonna lean in close to heart turn her body towards me a little bit so what we would do is lay them both in close now again it depends what you're able to do with subjects and what their limitations maybe lean your heads together looking at me on and here we go bring her back a little bit mom now notice mom's faces in shadow because we need to bring her back and flat late a little bit mom open your shoulder up to me a little bit on bring your beautiful daughter and close oh mom turn your head to make gorgeous look right here turn your head a little bit what I'm noticing is I'm not getting the light I want because mom's face is going in that direction so all you do is flatten it out very simple looking at may barely go turn your head a little bit to me excellent tio tio excellent I am I getting the expressions I got with mom knew mom talk to her see if you could get another look at her who she is is going for a right good she was better sitting by yourself mom wait talkto okay okay lot of distractions for got it now does it matter that I didn't see mama's much as I want it depends on my crop but it's not about that that's a cute image okay cute sweet soft image do you have any questions from people here or at home may be answered before I move on to the next segment again photography is photography and it all starts with good light it's very simple I'm still shooting one of every image so beautiful baby is done how about a round of reports for that sweet little princess that is absolutely amazing excellent now can I what questions do we have here if any not with a just a quick question from swan's who's asking how do you meet her for the moving baby meeting this way what what's that baby comes near me in terms of expression and tore in terms of angle to the light all I'm going to do with that point is make sure that amita ring exactly on the baby and exposure locking him from in program or manual or apt priority is shut up and if I'm immanuel it doesn't matter as long as I keep the baby's face into the light that's why would a baby in a situation like that you want a flat light a little bit more okay so I'll just say when you made it come after you do your happy dance and he said oh people at home are probably like saying well natalie just said I love this man she not doug she's end of you in the chat room not at least into me huh see it not only any other questions before we move already somebody great so you gonna ask our handsome dad come on over again mom do we have someone to hold a baby I think grandma always here excellent so what we're gonna do is move this out of the way for now okay dad you're going to come right over here sir now let's take a look dad by himself we'll bring you right to about here my fine sir turn sideways a little bit this way excellent so now let's take a look dad or in this case our groom again just because he's in a wheelchair nothing changes my job is to make him look strong to make him look powerful and to make him feel good about him so what we're gonna do is we're going to fight the same exact way as we always have can you tilt your head just a little bit to me sermon and you don't mind if I touch you do you know excellent and I want you to lean forward our chairs what about just like that and turn ahead I don't need you yet you worried about the tie excellent good so what we going to do there can I have the stepladder for a second tilt your head just a little bit to the right sir good now take a look again I want to keep him strong a powerful so its expression is going to be the most important part so look this shot may seem familiar take a look looking up at me search it up a little bit that's so much turn your head slightly to the right a little bit and close them out up no smile looking at me stay right there take a look again keeping it simple not overdoing it look at the light and take a look at how great he looks that's a nice strong shot of a guy yes in it now looking at me against her I changed my cropping hold it right there don't move take a look all I'm doing is changing my cropping here to make it flow better together and now I'm going to crop just a little different but it's nothing different than what we've done before and now chin down look down a little bit ice down and your chin down to ac so it turn your head slightly to may tilt your head to your right accidents stay right there and look at what we get so again we're keeping the same consistency that we always have we're not changing anything that we've ever done before now from here we're going to adjust it just a little bit look it's you george comment george she did such a better job than you with the tithe if you don't know that's georgia anarchists and if you look him up on facebook he dresses the exactly the same way he did is when he was eight he even has a belt with his name on it now let's take a look you're going to come right in here I want you to leave for it again thes people don't understand dear they good looking right here I want your eyes towards the light right here bring him over a little bit nice relaxed going to remain serious so watch how we change the angle you can't possibly shoot up on someone who's in a wheelchair can you let's take a look perfect you're doing terrific stay right there now can you do good can you pull your shirt down just a little bit in front they're excellent thank you sir turn your head slightly too may take a look again thiss would be a wonderful shot outside with a better background what in it because we get an open blue sky okay when it comes up you'll see open blue sky nice and strong isn't it now take a look turn your head to me just talk about what a bit more turn your head to your left chin down okay bring the light in here am I changing anything that I've done the whole time doing it exactly the same this the wheelchair cause there's no difference in terms of the way I'm shooting looking at me chin down a little bit just like that same shots have always done correct now one of the decisions I have to make is ok do I want to change and do I want to show the wheelchair that's not my decision that's his decision we'll talk about it because I'll explain to him I can hide it on everything I could do whatever you want whatever he's comfortable with ok that's his decision in a conversation that we would have he knows he's in a wheelchair okay so now let's bring in our beautiful wife and see how we put this together now with flo opposing just like anything else do I want her to be higher or bigger now if we're doing a full length image does she have to naturally be bigger off course so watch what we do here a chair or stool anything is going to become very very important but notice where the chair is I don't put the chair like this I put the chair off to the side can you sit on the edge beautiful good now I need to have her the edge so she could lean in close to him you're going to lead of course want to be able to put your arm in it but not turning her likes here because which turns the likes here what's gonna happen in here turn your legs to make and we're going to slide you in a little bit and I want you to put your arm right around them in the back now leaning and close turn your body to may now what we're going to do here is bring her hand on the front you're going to turn your head to me beautiful and you're going to be in a nice and close to your beautiful life good don't tell too much can you lean your body a little bit without falling off excellent and turn your head to your right gorgeous your other right you're welcome look at me and heads and bodies together now take a look that's a nice image of the two of them but look at what's happening on a chest it's bunching up a little bit the reason this is happening because she's forcing so she's gotta come forward on the chair just a tad come this way and then turn your body in now what's also hurting this is that she's wearing a mermaid type gown if she was wearing a more traditional gown I would open her legs to kind of bring her in closer heads together you are doing terrific stay right in there turn your head a little bit to me tilting here just like that leading for turn your head a tad to the left sir excellent now can I do the same posing that I've always done the answer is a dead dead yes no doubt about it camera height above eye level because I wanna minimize turn your head to your right beautiful now is her arm in the best position looks bigger so what do you think I'm going to do I'm going to get rid of it looking at me here beautiful stay right there eyes up here can you both smile nice and happy looking at may don't move stay there there's traditional image number one take a look boring image but looks pretty good doesn't it now from here watch how we smooth it out okay can you move your arm up to here if she hooks you not a problem great bring on candace on go behind her to do that cut heads together now win four to me turn your head to your right lean forward a little bit you guys are doing spectacular excellent perfect bring your armor or eight year wonderful stay there I'm gonna tilt the camera to him just like I would any other time smile and beautiful nice and happy eyes up here hold it don't move now all I want to do is put your nose right on his cheek beautiful nose on his cheek chin down close your eyes gorgeous but stretching out your serious he smile and look at me handsome just like that hold it right there smiling keys now look at each other go take a long look at each other noses together lean and close nice and happy don't push your nose is too hard smiling stretching out good happy don't push the nose too hard excellent wonderful now turn your head to me gorgeous turn your head all the way to the right I won't call you gorgeous big man put your nose right on her cheek tilt your head to him good just like that turn your head to your right beautiful look at me gorgeous smiling nice and happy excellent do I need to make adjustments a little bit once in a while have you hop up for a second if you don't mind what do you think you guys are coming out pretty good you dress up much better than I thought you would now watch what we do here we're going to bring her behind on what I want you to do if you can it's kind of come in here I know it's going to be hard if you can't straddle but coming close to him what do you want a picture of you and me together I understand if we got leaning and close now is this ideal off what I'd want but no I'm making changes okay so pull this up so it makes it elise can you slide into him all the way not really let me see what happens because the problem is she maybe to love but your hands up on his shoulders here you're going to turn your head looking this way and you're going to leave and close heads together look at mei good but what is he doing he's going to a feminine pose because he's tilting his head to the high shoulder you stay right there you coming close beautiful good having trouble because if worse we could stand you you know what I want you to stand up for a second sometimes this's hard depending on the wheelchair so what I want you to do is coming behind him like this now is she going toe look good if I take this in a full length no okay going close there come forward to may tilt your head to your right the bail would be very important here and I also have to watch that I don't shoot up into her chest and show her goodies off she won't like that so by getting rid of it I may do this and bring the hand upto hide a little bit just like that tilt your head a little bit to the right you're doing great turn your head to me search just a little bit you were doing great beautiful this doesn't look good so cropping is everything take a look tilt your head to him a little bit get up a little bit higher and bring your hand up further oranges chest both of them wrap up close to their good excellent tilt your head to him beautiful stay right there nice and happy you're smiling teeth eyes up here don't move now I want you to look down at her hands watch what we do you have a wedding ring with excellent can you bring your hands up to her hands excellent just like that now look down at your hands and you look at him look down the stretch your chin out a little bit of excellent now you have to ask what they're going to be able to do and what they're not going to be able to do looking down clean and close beautiful now look at me handsome good stay there serious nothing's changed has it simple and easy and most of all making them feel comfortable now what I'm going to do here is I'm going to take a family picture with um so what I'm going to do here but not with their baby you guys are going to become their family I'm really sorry okay so watch what we do here we're going to bring her in here and what I'm going teo is I'm just gonna bring the dress up the only reason I'm doing this is because I don't want the wheel becomes more of a distraction than anything we're going to pull her in close on around now let's bring in mom and dad okay you guys are good sports good good right in here you're going to come back here beautiful you're going to come right in here just like that leaning in close here or mint you come right over here that good just like that you're going to come right back here behind you good now I need my younger brother just this one messed up looking family let's take a look right here you're going to come jess you're going to kneel right here put your right left leg down right leg up nice and close next year brother right here you're doing terrific dad hand here now can I have my other handsome brother who's late for everything albert this family picture would have been done two hours ago if you showed up on time right leg down but now we should be partying on we're doing a family picture because you couldn't get there on time right like down left leg up good coming closer turn your body sideways a little bit coming closer and closer but it's your brother don't touch his leg what type of family do you have good just come over here tony you come over here praising me and you you come in nice and close here just like this tony you're going to come in close right there and now when is an uneven amount of people in the family we just eliminate the other one no good come over here beautiful just like that now what we're going to dio is we're going to have you take a seat right here sit on your family put your legs out to the side okay not that way look you know what's funny she didn't want to deal with you so I gotta sit but then she's like this she's like what's up good carl in close good slide back there good turn your body saw always a little bit when your hand in here or up okay now here's the key the key to this is making sure that everybody is on the same plane so you guys need to lean forward you bring your hand over here around your crazy looking so good just like that leave for you tilt your head a little bit now I would rather have them is going to turn you a little bit sideways I'm sorry just like that perfect look at your hand accident wearing let me see you bring your elbow up on your brother good sliding closer a little bit more what a bit more slide your fanny and all the way elbow up albert come around this way a little bit looking right here now close that's a nice look and family group isn't it everybody's in everybody looks spectacular well almost everybody albert good now here's the important stuff the lights here turn your head dad turn your head turn your head turn you head tony stop moving albert come around this way and lean forward just like that tilt your head tilt your head you're perfect you're perfect it's only the people who've been here for two days trying to learn who are here we go so let's take a look everybody's doing spectacular I couldn't acts for better just like that stay there wonderful everybody's lookin here were smiling with you ingrate happy teeth and let's see hopefully I got it right let's take a look I think I only need one that's a nice look and family group isn't it and everybody looks good now if anybody's wondering this is what angelina jolie and brad pitt's family will look like one day throw everything off so you guys can come back how about a nice round of applause for our beautiful bride in handsome groom that summer jobs thank you so much you have a beautiful family thank you

Class Description

This 3-day weekend workshop will be unlike any other CreativeLive event you've experienced. You'll learn Doug Gordon's unique flow posing system. Learn how to seamlessly move from one pose to the next creating a string of 30 – 50 different unique poses all within a few minutes. Doug is an amazing businessman. He knows what clients want, and how to deliver a product that every client will always love. And beyond everything you'll learn, Doug's style and personality are unique. Prepare yourself for a wild ride!

a Creativelive Student

I loved every minute of it! I watched and re-watched the Live show 3 times and now have the video version to burn into my mind. I don't get sick of watching it, I learn something new with each viewing. I have notes upon notes, inspirational quotes and I was truly inspired. I saw you live at your workshop and I wish we would of covered the business section a bit more in depthly because after watching you here on creativeLive I was floored! I can't wait to attend another one of your workshops because you are a wealth of knowledge, energetic and you inspire me to be better! I'm so glad I wasn't afraid to try even though I was terrified at first. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being such an amazing mentor!

Adrian Farr

Doug has so much enthusiasm, it is beyond measurable. He is truly a fantastic motivator. He helps you understand the best ways to work with the light you have and shows you some very simple yet effective posing techniques. I highly recommend watching and buying this course if you want some great advice on improving your photography.

a Creativelive Student

Awesome,Stupendious,Great, Wonderful, Dynamic, Super, Extordinary,ect... Thank you for a great learning experience. Although I have not had a photography business in alot of years, I still enjoy it so much. Thanks for re-invigorating me.
Jeannette Winters